Cary Elwes had broken toe while filming 'Princess Bride'

Sweet Westley, what have you done?

Westley (Cary Elwes) and Buttercup (Robin Wright) share a romantic ‘Princess Bride’ moment, while Elwes tries not to put weight on his foot. (20th Century Fox)

Six weeks into production on Princess Bride, Cary Elwes broke his toe. Elwes recounted the story at BookCon, during a panel I moderated about his forthcoming memoir, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride.

Though the pain was excruciating, Elwes said “the show must go on,” and tried to pretend like nothing had happened. He was worried he’d be fired from the movie.

Of course, he wasn’t, but he did have to shoot a few scenes with a swollen foot. Like this scene on the hill with Buttercup (Robin Wright). Watch how he sits at :46 to avoid putting extra weight on his foot:

Stuntmen did the actual rolling down the hill.

At the bottom of the hill, Westley asks Buttercup, “Can you move?” That’s ironic, considering Elwes is the one who is struggling to move. Elwes writes in his memoir that his foot is positioned funny before their kiss. It’s right at the beginning of this clip:

For a couple of weeks, Elwes had to train for his big swordfighting scene without moving his feet. An “unplanned benefit” of his injury: he got really good at the arm movements in fencing. Here’s that epic swordfighting scene, which many people at BookCon (including myself) said influenced them to take up fencing: